


Red Fox

by StarRoseColors



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Bashing, Alya Césaire Appreciation, Alya Césaire Appreciation Week, Bee Kagami, Black Cat Alya, Black Cat Felix, F/F, F/M, Family, Female Friendship, Fox Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Kwami Swap, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Love, Mentioned violence, Polyamory, Snake Nino, Turtle Luka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23652253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarRoseColors/pseuds/StarRoseColors
Summary: Alya deserves more appreciation.
Relationships: Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire & Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Félix/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 154





	1. Reporter

_ A new video has been posted on the Ladyblog. When it opens, it reveals _ ALYA CESAIRE  _ staring out. She looks like a wreck: her hair is a mess while tears gleam in her eyes. She lets out a sniffle before trying a watery grin. _

“Hey, Ladybug fans. Ladyblogger here, Alya. Sorry for the lack of anything about last week’s akuma attack. But…”  _ Her hands grip each other as she looks ready to start crying. _ “I...I have two hard blows.”  _ Her hand releases to press a button and bring up an image. _

_ It is of last week’s akuma,  _ SCOOPER _. The image was taken of his rampage before Ladybug showed up. It also showed the destroyed  _ DUPAIN-CHENG BAKERY _. The worse part isn’t the visible body of  _ SABINE CHENG _ , it’s of  _ CHAT NOIR _. _

_ Just sitting there. _

_ Doing nothing. _

“The bakery there is the one that my best friend Marinette lives. Scooper attacked it, destroying it and killing her and her family. There is visible footage of Chat Noir not doing anything. I’ve also gone over past footage to try and figure out an explanation. And…”

_ She sighs. _ “It gets worse. We, the people of Paris, have shipped Ladynoir as long as they’ve been around. We have ignored Ladybug repeatedly on the subject, which is she and Chat Noir will not, and never be a couple.”  _ A few more images and clips appeared, all of the same thing. _ “Chat Noir has been ignoring her as well. We...have been supporting Ladybug’s harassment.”

_ There is a sob. _ “In response to that, I’ve deleted the Ladynoir tab to the Ladyblog. I will also no longer be accepting submissions for anything like that.”  _ The stuff disappeared to show Alya dabbing at her eyes. _ “Now, for the second hard blow.”

_ She throws away the tissue to take a deep breath. _ “When I began school, I met a girl. She had been severely bullied all her school life and just needed a friend. I became her friend. With my support, she became a wonderful and confident girl, a great friend and a just class president.”  _ She coughed into her fist. _ “Maybe too  _ enthusiastic  _ support. Anyway, at the beginning of the school year, a new girl showed up. You might be guessing who it is: Lila Rossi.”  _ An image appeared of said girl. _

“She told these...fantastic stories about things she did, people she knew. One of these things included being Ladybug’s best friend. And, to my great shame, I did no research and posted it. The latter is horrible on its own because Hawkmoth would have a potential hostage.”  _ She sighed, rubbing her temples. _ “But I and my class believed all her easily proven lies. Except for my best friend. There was also a boy who knew because she tried lying and Ladybug actually showed up and yelled at her. Anyway, the boy tried to get my friend quiet, which she did. Part of this was because she had a crush on him.”

“Thankfully, after this, it’s dead.” _ She gave a hysterical chuckle. _ “Like our friendship! I’m a reporter and I believed all of her lies! I shouldn’t have shoved at her the duty to research! God, I am an awful person!”  _ She starts pulling on her hair with a wild, hysteric look. _ “I keep giving Hawkmoth this info to try to use against Ladybug! AND IT TOOK LILA FORGETTING TO DELETE THE E-MAIL ABOUT CAREER DAY TO HER MOTHER TO FIND OUT EVERYTHING WAS A LIE!”  _ She releases her hair to clamp her hands over her eyes.  _ “AND ADRIEN HAD THE GALL TO TRY AND LECTURE MARINETTE ABOUT BEING RELIEVED THAT NONE OF US EVER HAD TO WASTE ANYTHING ON THAT GOD-AWFUL LIAR-!”  _ She screams. _

_ The video goes dark. _

_ The next evening, a new video is posted. Alya looks better in this, even with a forming black eye. _ “Hey, viewers. Sorry for the end of that last video. So, new news. Chat Noir has been stripped of his miraculous. So, good for Ladybug!”  _ She does jazz hands, a new silver ring on her finger gleaming. _ “And, it turns out that Lila admitted to helping Hawkmoth. Well, not really admitted. She kinda screamed for Hawkmoth when her mom refused to use her diplomat privileges to strip away the truancy charges. Then she punched me. I’ll post that video after this.”  _ She gestured to her black eye with a bright grin. After showing off the shiner, her grin faded to something softer.  _ “And...okay, so I’m gonna talk about my personal life.”

_ She takes a deep breath _ . “As you might’ve heard, Marinette is the girl in Lila’s story. She’s my best friend. And, no joke, if Nino wasn’t in the picture I would try marrying her. So, she and I talked about things while I was icing my eye. She was worried about me, even if she was hurt that I believed Lila over her. So, we’re trying to rebuild things. It might take a while, but it’s worth it.”

_ She smiles. _

“For her.”


	2. Rena Rouge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reynard sometimes misses Rena Rouge.

A loud whoop broke the silent night.

If people were on the streets and looked up,they could see two people: one clad in orange, the other in teal. The orange let out a loud shriek of joy again as she jumped. This time, it looked like she was encased in the moon.

The two finally slid to a stop, panting for air. The Fox pressed a button on her flute. "All clear here." She reported.

" _ Nice job, Reynard _ ." Ladybug said on the other end. There was a noise. " _ I gotta go...Hex is looking uncomfortable with this fan girl that just showed up _ ."

Reynard chuckled, closing the phone app on her flute. Putting it away, she walked up to lean on Cobra. It was still odd to see Nino clad in teal instead of the green. "How's it going?"

"Good! You?"

She hummed, looking over her outfit. To distinguish between Rena and Reynard, Alya had made a few changes to her costume. She now wore goggles in what she called a tribute to Carapace. Her hair was now pulled into a low bum and tucked into a hood. The entire thing was darker, making it easier to hide in the shadows. She sighed. "Things...have really changed."

It had been three years since Hawkmoth had started attacking. It had been two since Lila's lies and Chat Noir's harassment of Ladybug had been found out. Adrien had returned to homeschooling after Lila had revealed he knew about the lies and he dared, several more times, to lecture Marinette about "bullying". Chat Noir had disappeared.

With those changes came new ones. Felix, Adrien’s cousin, had started going to their school. Alya had been jumpy when he started showing romantic interest in Marinette, but relaxed when she saw that he was genuinely interested. Luka and Kagami had followed his lead and last she heard, they were talking about polyamory. Hex had replaced Chat Noir, followed by the new turtle of Snap and the new bee Hachi.

“Do you miss Carapace?”

Cobra had to think over the question a bit. “...sometimes. But Sass is pretty cool about learning fistbumps and music.” He nudged her, grin shining white. “You?”

The question was harder for her. Alya still had the fox. But Rena Rouge was still her first hero form, the one she started with. It was also the one she had to lose because of her inability, at the time, to understand what should and shouldn’t be published for the world to see. “A lot.” she finally admitted. “But...change is good.”

Change...change was good.

She felt better when a kiss was pressed to her brow.


	3. Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's not okay.

Something was up with Marinette.

Alya had noticed it slowly. 

The first time she noticed was when Adrien had gotten a step too close. Alya had expected her friend to turn into a tomato and start stammering before trying to escape to cool down. Marinette had started stammering, but she had gone pale before scrambling out of the room.

The second thing she noticed was when she and Marinette met back up at the bakery. Alya had been recording for the Ladyblog and had started to suspect Ladynoir wasn’t so cut and clean. Chat Noir had ended up grabbing Ladybug by the arm and screamed in her face, ignoring the akuma. Marinette, when they met up, was pale and trembling. Then she had reached up to grab a plate, not noticing her sleeve rolling down.

Alya did though. And she had dropped her phone when she saw the handprint shaped bruise on Marinette’s arm. She had quickly grabbed it, scrambling for an excuse to leave.

The third thing was after Chloe had been a massive brat again. Marinette had dared to argue with her again, ending it with a seriously good burn. Adrien had dragged her outside. When they came back in, Marinette was quiet for the rest of the day.

And then Alya decided enough was enough.

* * *

“I think someone’s hurting Marinette.”

The room went dead silent. Alya had gathered all the girls- including Aurore, Mirelle, and Kagami- for a sleepover to talk about her theory. Lila opened her mouth and she held up a hand. “No, this isn’t for attention. She’s been flinching around _Adrien_ , of all people.”

Rose gasped and Juleka started comforting her. Kagami raised her hand. “Has anyone asked about this?” She asked calmly. Alya tried her best to ignore the rising flames she could see in the fencer’s eyes.

“No, actually.”

* * *

“Marinette.”

Her best friend looked up and Alya wanted to sob at the tremble that had gone through before she looked up. “Yeah?” she whispered softly.

They talked. And Alya was able to pry the details out.

Marinette had befriended a blonde haired, green eyed boy at a gaming con. They had been talking and e-mailing for months. A few months ago, he had admitted he had developed feelings for her. She had rejected him politely, explaining about her feelings for Adrien.

“But...he’s been really pushy. He’s been harassing me about how we’re a couple, I just won’t admit it.” She admitted.

Alya bit back the vitrol she wanted to spit about the guy. Instead, she whispered “Can I hug you?” She chuckled when Marinette held out her arms. “I suggest you block him.” she whispered into her friend’s hair. “Make sure he can’t get near you.”

They pulled apart. Marinette’s eyes were wet as she nodded.

Two days later, Ladybug announced that Chat Noir had been judged as no longer worthy. Marinette came to school early with a vibrant smile.

And Alya felt better.


End file.
